Two monkeys become Japanese station masters

When trains meet financial woes in the UK, we cut jobs and bump up ticket fares. When Japanese transportation goes through economic turbulence, they bring in monkeys. Makes sense.

In a bid to attract more visitors to the financially troubled line, the Hojo Railway Company has recruited two furry little new employees. Nehime and Rakan are baby monkeys aged seven months and three months, and sport the train line’s gold and blue uniforms, complete with tiny hats.

Their job for the month is to clamber aboard the new eco-friendly, biodiesel fuel train and serve at the platform as station masters. Biodiesel costs about 20 percent more than the price of diesel, meaning a fresh gimmick is needed to boost customers.

But strangely enough, Nehime and Rakan aren’t the first animals tasked with running a railway station. In January 2007, the Wakayama Electric Railway hired Tama the calico cat to be station master for the line’s Kishi station. And yes, before you ask, the cat wore a hat too.

The company saw an increase of passengers by 17 percent, and estimates say Tama has contributed 1.1 billion Yen to the local economy. She doesn’t get paid for her financial help, but she gets free cat food.

There’s also Maron, a Yorkshire terrier who’s the stationmaster of Okunakayama-Kougen Station, and Koma, the goat in charge of Uzen-Komatsu station. Yep, they both wear hats.